Speedealer- Second Sight. This new album is produced by Jason Newsted. The sound is kindof a mix of thrash on parts of some tracks, while others are just Motorhead influenced speed metal. the label on the cd says "new generation punk metal" but I don't hear any punk here. Although the vocalist sounds kindof like Blaine from Nashville Pussy(whom some people say are kindof punky). The overall feel of the album is energetic and you don't get any ballads here, which is cool, because they don't seem to do solos or acoustics either. It isn't super heavy, but the sound is clean. Newsted's production is good enough that you can hear all the instruments and I don't hear any problems with it. Other than this album I know nothing about this band, but the album itself is decent. It doesn't have any standout moments, but it's the type of thing you can pop in and headbang to, and just kindof enjoy. Not much more I can say about it. Rating: (7.5).

Korn: Follow the Leader. It occurred to me while watching Queen of the Damned(very bad vampire movie) that I did kindof like some of this numetal stuff, particularly the moody music they put in movies when crazy stuff is happening. So I decided KoRn as the leader of this movement had to be checked out. Follow the Leader brought some surprises to me though. First of all KoRn does have their own sound with these interesting eerie keyboards upfront with a semi hiphop vocalist and then extremely heavy guitar and a bass groove in the background. The turntables can also be heard in there somewhere. On the other hand, they weren't the band I was looking for. They aren't quite what I've been hearing in movies, although Dead Bodies Everywhere Seems to be an influence to those types of songs. I also now don't see how In Flames is being influenced in any way by Korn. This album on it's own has as I said it's own sound, but I'm not particularly fond of it. It is something different, but if what I've heard is true and all the albums are really similar then I really don't think I need to check out any other albums. There are some tracks I like though- It's On is the intro to the album after 38 seconds(and 12 tracks) of silence before it. It's On bounces a lot but the energy is there and though it doesn't have a strong riff like the metal I'm used to, it is still a cool listen. Freak on a Leash has a range in sounds in it and though I don't like the intro too much the rest of the song was pretty cool. Dead Bodies Everywhere is stupid, especially lyrically, but I suppose it's kindof catchy. The song with Ice Cube on vocals is alright, but it's not the same sound as most of Korn's stuff. Then after the first 7 or 8 songs I kindof lose interest. The stuff is the same eerie keyboards with jump up and down riffing, but it loses me. Fred Durst also contributes on one song but I wasn't as upset with it as I thought I'd be because by that part of the album it all sounded the same anyway. As a whole I can see this albums influence, but I'm not the biggest fan of the sound. It was worth checking out though and maybe I'll give it some more listens again sometime. Rating: (6.5 - 7).

Jake-
Not all Korn albums are alike. In fact, the majority of them are very different. The first CD was just entitled "Korn." It's pretty dark but most of the bass parts are really funky which was probably the thing most responsible for catagorizing it as nu-metal. But for the most part it's a dark and heavy CD. The second CD, "Life Is Peachy," is where this band seemed to lose direction and a lot of people who listened to the first CD. The best way to describe "Peachy" is that it's one big gimmick. Instead of writing some actual songs, most of this disc seems to be quick gimmicks just thrown together with odd lyrics to try to amuse people. The song "ADIDAS" is pretty much what this CD was all about. The CD had no direction, nothing was happening musically and it would have to easily rate as their worst CD in my opinon. The third CD is "Follow the Leader." I was not a big fan of this one either. This always seemed to be three different CDs thrown together. First, you have the "pop" stuff like "Freak on a Leash" and "Got the Life." Then you have the rap stuff. Then you have the stuff like "Dead Bodies Everywhere," which is the heavier stuff that I like. Once again I wasn't really impressed with this CD. Just too much pop, and flat out it was too geared towards MTV and the MTV crowd. To be honest, I almost gave up on the band at this point. But the 4th CD, "Issues," reclaimed me. This was one heavy and dark disc. Almost all the rap was gone (I think it's used in one track towards the end). The gimmicks were gone and it was one really focused effort. Some mellow stuff which included more melody and singing. In many ways it was like an extension of the first CD, but instead of having a lot of the funk rhythms it was very much a rock CD. The new disc, "Untouchables" is like "Issues" although the rap influences are basically gone. There are some loops but those are mainly limited to the intro's of songs. But it's a really dark and cohesive work. And I think the songwriting is more mature, and there is even more mellow and melodic stuff on it. Overall it has been one of the best CDs released this year. The latest single, "Thoughtless" is one of the better tracks on the CD. If anyone out there likes that, there is a good chance they will like the rest of this CD.

But, in summary, I don't think "Follow the Leader" is a good representation of what Korn is. Certainly it is not a good representation of what Korn has done on their last couple CDs.

I would rate their CDs as follows:
1. Untouchables
2. Issues
3. Korn
4. Follow the Leader
5. Life Is Peachy

Nonetheless, I take my hat off to you for venturing into this area of metal. Not many people are willing to give this a shot, and I think you should be saluted for giving it a chance.

I'm tempted to go pick up Issues since it was also available for 2.50 when I bought Follow the Leader, but I thought I'd check out Follow first. This gimmicky(as you call it) Korn is still better than Limp Biskit's dive into mainstream attention.

Interms of checking out Korn, it was more of a matter of me hearing something that I thought had some merit. Their music doesn't totally suck like most people tend to say on the board. Limp Biskit does but not Korn. I don't think they are as much my type of thing as some new bands like In Flames and Arch Enemy, but they still have something to them.

I'm hoping if I get Issues it will be more like what I was looking for. Or maybe I'm really trying to find Slipknot or System of A Down.